…is that it causes history to repeat itself.
This blog is open again for commenting.
Note: Because I do not have much time to administer the website, there will be a team of individuals who have agreed to help run this website from this point onwards.
28 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Apr 15, 2008 at 8:36 pm
So truuuuuuuuuuuu
2 longtime observer // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:07 pm
How many lives have to be destroyed before someone in authority wakes up?
The cleaning house of Monday and Tuesday was painful to watch. Are they truly “building a school of excellence?”
3 Longtime Anonymous // Apr 16, 2008 at 5:03 pm
No surprises – they are just finishing up what they started last year. Good or bad, it was bound to happen.
4 Hillel gone wild // Apr 16, 2008 at 11:16 pm
They should have invested their money on their teachers instead of the 5 new offices that were re-done this year.
5 Great potential we see for this school // Apr 16, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Is it that they had to “cap off” the grades at a certain limit, or is that just a nice way to say that Hillel doesn’t have enough enrollment
6 Anonymous // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:03 am
Holden soon won’t have any enrollment left to fund his new offices or his job. Good work board.
7 Longtime Anonymous // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:16 am
There will be plenty of students. Those who are for the “new school” will stay.
8 Anonymous // Apr 17, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I wouldn’t say “plenty.”
9 Anonymous // Apr 17, 2008 at 3:49 pm
The word on the street is that one of the Scheck children will be attending Krop next year. I think that says it all.
10 Longtime Anonymous // Apr 18, 2008 at 3:09 pm
If it really happens.
11 Fed Up // Apr 18, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hey “Long time anonymous” you sound very positive. Would you care to disclose your true colors. Are you a member of the admin? If you are please tell us why some excellent, loving and caring teachers who inspired students on a daily basis were let go. And don’t tell me “right sizing” If you right size you need to take out one or two teachers from every department, not virtually the whole math department nearly the whole Judaic department, English… etc…. and leave the young inexperienced teachers.
12 Longtime Anonymous // Apr 18, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I am not and never been part of the Hillel Administration. And as far as rightsizing, take a good look on how many places “rightsize”. My point was that some people who asked and wanted this change will remain. And I was “fed up” with Hillel long ago.
13 Anonymous // Apr 22, 2008 at 7:43 pm
It is certainly a crying shame that year after year the school continues to morph into a different dynamic. Once known as the top notch Community day school in the South Florida area, it has become the joke of the neighborhood. It had a preschool that was second to none, and elementary school with a top notch principal (Diane Wander/Jane Johnson) – to a disfunctional lower school with no direction – they just slashed the writing program (known cross-county and perhaps state-wide for its merits and accomplishments), it had a waivering middle school (somewhat improved -with new faculty issues as well) and a high school that graduated cream of the crop students who entered great schools of higher education only to be transformed into a stommping ground for new inept faculty that were unable to secure other positions – it has become a revolving door for teachers and leaves the students on their own – - such a bargain at $18,000+ per year. The high school is in grave shape with no immediate hope in sight.
There is horrible scripted communication from the school. The very root of Jewish community – - has been silenced. No longer does the school inform the community of deaths of faculty member family members, births, weddings, etc. No longer do they inform of community parent life cycle events so that the community can do their mitzvot of visiting the ill and bereaved or sending cards acknowledging these events, and expressing mazel tov to those who have had simchas. Synagogues regularly provide such communications to their members informing them of such events – - why shouldn’t a community day school?
There is a lot to save – - our veteran teachers are at stake. It is these teachers that embody the true heart of the school. Their ability to work on behalf of the children and continue to provide them with a formidable Jewish and Security education. They are to be saluted for their accomplishments in the face of adversity.
To the administration – - – Shame on You for continuing to hire low quality teachers and for continuing to silence community communication. What type of communications regime are you running? The Blue Print to excellence – continually touted refers to increased and better communication……….
14 Longtime Anonymous // Apr 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Not much to save anymore. The teachers need to make decisions at this point based on what is best for them. The parents will take care of their children.
15 Jewish Values // May 1, 2008 at 8:02 pm
The issue is not the Blue Print to Excellence, the staff, parents or children in Hillel. It is individuals who are a part of this school community but choose to talk negatively about Hillel. These people that “stay silent” or write anonymous comments on a web page dimilishing the very “jewish values” that we as individuals are taught to uphole. These individuals that could use there words to motivate people and help better the school are writting incorrect information on a web page.
Yes, there are many changes being made. But what is the point, change happens everywhere, everyday. We need to get ourselves involved and better informed about what is really happening in Hillel. Some people have forgotten that this school is part of a greater community, a Jewish community. Instead of writing comment on what is “heard”; people should go to meetings and talk to administrators about the changes and issues they have. JUST HELP!!!
Many great teachers weren’t offered a contract. I am pretty sure that a lot of thought was put in making those tough decisions. A lot HAD to do with enrollment; and though we love these teachers as individuals, we were not the students in the classroom. In some cases, we can’t make an assumption that just because they are nice with us or our friends that they are better qualified to teach our children than some of the new teachers. It isn’t fair to the new teachers, they don’t know the history of Hillel. They just want to help provide the best education they could possibly provide for our children. I encourage you to speak to them, visit their classrooms, I am sure that they don’t mind.
Some people need to reflect on what they are saying and think about the children. They (the children) are the ones that we are hurting by the negative comments being made. People have a choice– you can be an anonymous writer that hurts the school by writing negative things on a web page (but if you are that person, may I suggest going to another school!) or you can be an active, informed participant in Hillel and HELP make these changes a little easier on the children, parents, teachers, and most importantly our Jewish community. JUST HELP!!!
16 Anonymous // May 1, 2008 at 9:05 pm
We are speaking on behalf of those who have no voice and have asked us to speak for them. Deal with it.
17 Longtime Anonymous // May 2, 2008 at 9:29 am
Jewish Values – Go talk to the Board or Administration (if you can find anyone Jewish) about values. Yes, change needs to happen. And it has over the years. The Jewishness of the school is now being taken away. The school is moving away from its purpose. So then the Jewish community should move away from it.
18 Marc Mermelstein // May 5, 2008 at 10:45 am
In response to the “caps”, what I’ve heard is that the 66 kids per class cap is a financial issue where the money in is “equal” to the money going out in terms of teachers, supplies, staff, etc. To expand the class would require another 20-22 students.
19 Anonymous // May 5, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I remember the days when Hillel had 26 to 27 per class in several sections per grade. Those were the days my friend…
20 longtime observer // May 7, 2008 at 5:54 pm
to the anonymous person that wrote about anonymous people and Jewish Values, you must be from the administration because our teachers have taught the kids the words their and there are not the same and cannot be interchanged.
Shame on you. Spell check is good but it would not detect an error such as this…you’ve got to know the difference.
21 longtime observer // May 7, 2008 at 5:56 pm
to the anonymous person who wrote about anonymous people who write to Save Hillel, you must be from the administration. Our “old” English teachers know and knew the difference between there and their. Their students would not make such an error. Shame on you!
22 Anonymous // May 7, 2008 at 6:36 pm
in all fairness, anyone can make stupid grammatical errors online…the best of us do it at times.
23 OBSERVER // Jun 3, 2008 at 8:52 am
so they fired mrs jane and took Aboulafia instead
Jane had one assistent but Aboulafia (isnt it a pita baker?) needs two or three. which one of them are going around with a notepad writing out misbihaved teacher. (diciplyn teachers????)
more then this Mr M is principle now ??? why cant he be a teacher part time and a jewish life man part time (jewish life means he goes out with baloons when needed)
then its getting better Mrs yemin who has no knowlege in computers become incharge of computer trainer (no one needs her services)
why can”t she be doing computer helper volantirly in her spaer time?
this is just 3 little tips on how to save money
and ther is so many to come
24 Observer // Jun 4, 2008 at 5:28 pm
In the high school, i believe there may only be three teachers left from the days of the “old hillel”.
how safe are there jobs?
25 Anonymous // Jun 4, 2008 at 5:46 pm
depends how much they get paid.
26 alum from the 90s // Jun 4, 2008 at 5:53 pm
teachers don’t get paid a lot. in general. it’s not specific to hillel – it’s everywhere. unless you are a college president at a private university or something.
anyway, why are they even bothering by staying anyway? i think i know why-because of comfort. let’s stay in an abusive relationship because we don’t want to turn away. then we should be surprised when people actually fire us. it’s a dumb mindset.
so here’s my thought:
- get a new job and stop saying you love the kids and that’s why you’re teaching. you got fired because the kids don’t like you back. that’s why their parents made you leave.
- everyone is expendable. teachers are expendable and so are students. go to another school and you’ll love the students just as much. i know it.
- leave teaching altogether. sometimes you can still explore your passions without confining yourself to a ridiculous schedule of working from 7am until 7pm when it pays nothing. tutoring, anyone?
i remember someone being attackedfor saying this last year but HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF and you might as well get out of that bad relationship before it’s too late. don’t come back to this blog shocked that you got the boot. you’ve been warned by people who are realists (and not optimists. thank you, rabbi feinerman, for instilling that value within me. i miss your teachings and i’m glad you found a better place in montreal).
27 Anonymous // Jun 4, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Actually many of your points are simply not true.
Some of the teachers who got fired are very well loved. They make more money than you’d think. That’s why they were cut.
However, I do agree with you that those teachers have actually been done a favor.
28 Lynn // Nov 16, 2008 at 5:40 pm
In response to #26 – clearly you are a rich entitled brat who has no idea about peon teachers who NEED to make a living in order to pay the mortgage, put food on the table, etc. They can’t just leave their jobs because of an “abusive relationship”…. that’s the nature of education in the US. Administrators flee the classroom b/c they can’t handle it and then they look down their noses at teachers for being stupid enough to stay and CARE about children…because they sure don’t. Are you an administrator at a school? You sound like it.
True, many teachers in time regret their choice because teaching is an abusive profession. And MANY teachers leave… what a great country we’re creating here. Oh but wait, people at Hillel care more about Israel than the US.
You say tutoring anyone? Oh yeah, that’s a great decision. No benefits, no guarantee of hours or salary. Gee, why don’t all the dumb teachers who love the kids listen to you!? Oh but wait – teachers are the only one’s who really care about education at Hillel – and they are the ones who get harassed by parents, students, and administrators alike.
It’s interesting that you hit on a key point, and the biggest issue with Hillel in saying:
“you got fired because the kids don’t like you back. that’s why their parents made you leave.”
Yes, the know-it-all parents (why don’t they just fire all the teachers and administrators and and have the parents teach since they just want A’s for all their ignorant babies anyhow?) ARE the problem – they harass administrators, they harass teachers – and they don’t give a damn let alone respect anyone’s professional background or experience, or the fact that teachers barely take home $30-40k a year after taxes. You get what you pay for, don’t you?
Finally #26 — as your writing skills show, you are too lazy to even hit shift and use capital letters – so you are clearly too ignorant and lazy to understand why teachers stay and teach, even in the face of all the abuse.
As for the teachers who were fired last year, yes they were done an incredible favor. My son is a student at Hillel this year, and I am thinking of pulling him out at the end of the semester, Jewish education or not. I’m tired of the chaos, the lies, the lack of genuine concern of administrators for their teachers and students. Hillel is not getting better…